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Headless Sun xVM VirtualBox guests via SMF

I finally had some extra time this weekend to sit down and finish an SMF manifest to support headless VirtualBox guests. Overall, I am quite pleased with the result:

The source for the service manifest and method script is available here. These files should be copied to /var/svc/manifest/application/virtualbox/ and /lib/svc/method/, respectively.

I have also created an IPS package for OpenSolaris users; if you are interested in installing the package, you will need to add my private IPS repository first:

% pfexec pkg set-authority -O http://arf.ubound.org/pkg/ arf.ubound.org

Once the repository has been added, you can then install the virtualbox-headless package:

% pfexec pkg install virtualbox-headless

Once the files are in place, you may need to import the manifest manually; since there are no default instances, svc:/system/manifest-import:default has a tendency to skip the manifest during a bulk import (this issue seems to affect the IPS package as well):

% pfexec svccfg import /var/svc/manifest/application/virtualbox/virtualbox-headless.xml

Once you have imported the manifest, it is time to add each guest you wish to manage. I have written the manifest such that a guest is identified by the name of the instance itself. For example, if I wanted to add a guest named qnx641, I would issue the following:

% pfexec svccfg -s virtualbox/headless add qnx641

You may then enable the instance via svcadm(1M):

% pfexec svcadm enable virtualbox/headless:qnx641

Two properties are provided to control the start and stop behavior of each instance:

1. The vbox/start_type property corresponds to the --type argument passed to VBoxManage startvm; by default, it is set to headless. Possible values are: gui, sdl, vrdp, and headless, however only the last two really make any sense when used with SMF.


2. The vbox/stop_method property corresponds to the argument passed to VBoxManage controlvm which is responsible for stopping the instance; by default it is set to savestate. Possible values are: pause, resume, reset, poweroff, savestate, acpipowerbutton, and acpisleepbutton

For those unfamiliar with SMF, these properties may be set by using this pattern:

% pfexec svccfg -s virtualbox/headless:qnx641
svc:/application/virtualbox/headless:qnx641> addpg vbox application
svc:/application/virtualbox/headless:qnx641> setprop vbox/stop_method = astring: "poweroff"
^D

Since this is a "wait" model service, it does not properly support a user shutting down the guest outside of svcadm(1M) invocations; the service will continue to report its status as online. In this case, a simple disable or restart will resolve the problem.

Enjoy!